Free Printable Cupcake Toppers

Cupcake toppers are all the rage these days, probably because they do such a good job of dressing up cupcakes and allowing them to stand in for cakes. Of course, they can be used for cakes, too, but as the name "cupcake toppers" suggests, they do their best work on cupcakes!

The three free cupcake topper templates in the right column below are suitable for virtually any occasion and range from serious to whimsical. Here are the available designs:

• Polka dots
• Vintage butterflies
  
• Ladybugs and strawberries

Please be sure to read the Terms of Use further down on the page before downloading these cupcake topper templates. Thanks!

You'll need the following to make these DIY cupcake toppers:

• One or more of the .jpg files on this page
• A home color printer, or you can take it to a office supply store with color printers or a digital printing service
• Card stock or photo paper that's thick enough to stand up but thin enough to run through your printer
• A circle or flower petal shaped die cutter or a craft knife, 2" glass and cutting board
• A package of lollipop sticks, straws or thick toothpicks
• Dry scrapbook or photo adhesive, or double-sided tape (a glue stick might also work, depending on the brand's adhesive qualities)
• Three-dimensional stickers for the polka dot toppers (optional)

To make the cupcake toppers:

1. Please be sure to read the Terms of Use below before downloading any of the .jpg files in the right column.

2. Click on one of the templates in the right column to have it appear larger. You can then save the artwork to your hard drive by control-clicking (Mac) or right-clicking (PC) on that larger image and choosing a location on your hard drive to save it to that will allow you to easily find it later.

3. Each cupcake toppers template is on an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet and was created in high resolution at 300 dpi. Because of the resolution, the art looks quite large when seen full size on your computer. But the supplied .jpg files should print nicely at 8 1/2" x 11" if you print after they have been saved to your hard drive. I tried printing straight from the larger image on this page, without downloading, and the size was wrong. So it's important to download the image(s) to your hard drive fist and then print.

If the art still doesn't print properly, even after downloading, just paste the .jpg image into a a new document in a word processing program, like Microsoft Word or Open Office. You can size the image by clicking on the corner of the .jpg and dragging it with your mouse. It can even be pasted into MS Excel or PowerPoint, or their open source equivalents, if those are the only programs you have. It can, of course, also be placed into graphics or publishing software. If you have that kind of software, you probably already know how to use it. If not, do an Internet search for the software name, plus the word "tutorial" and you should find information to help you place the artwork into your software program.

Design Tip: If you use graphics software or Microsoft Word, you can customize the cupcake toppers by adding a name or a special message. Use a layer in a graphics program (use Picnik.com if you don't have a graphics program and would like to try a free web-based version), or create a text box over the artwork in Microsoft Word. You can learn more about using text boxes in the MS Word help menu or by doing searching on the Internet, using this search query: "MSWord text box tutorial."

4. When the artwork is ready to print, be sure to use the thickest card stock your printer will allow. Some people prefer photo paper. You can even use the kind that has a pattern on the back, because the backs of the cupcake toppers won't be seen. Make sure to set your printer to the optimum setting (whatever that's called in your printer settings), so you'll get the best quality. You'll need to print twice as many toppers as there are cupcakes, because you'll use two for each.

6. After the cupcake toppers are printed, they obviously will need to be cut. To get the best results, use a circle die cutter. You can also use a circle cutter that makes scalloped or petal edges that look like a flower. That would work particularly well with the polka dot cupcake toppers template.

If you don't already have a die cutter and would like to buy one, there are links in the right column to get them from Amazon. You can also use a craft knife or scissors, but the toppers may not turn out as well. Please note that the artwork might need to be adjusted to fit your particular die, as discussed in step 3.

7. After the cupcake toppers have been cut, position one face down on a flat surface and lay several pieces of double-sided tape or dry adhesive (see below for some recommendations) so it covers the middle and as close to the edges as you can get.

On the second topper that will back it, place some adhesive down the center vertically, so the lollipop stick or toothpick will be held firmly in place. Put that second topper out of the way, being careful not to let anything stick to the adhesive. Then, put a lollipop stick or sturdy toothpick in the center of the first topper, so it sticks to the adhesive. (If you're using the lollipop sticks instead of toothpicks, you might need to first cut them all at the same length so they're not too long.) Carefully position the second topper on top of the first, so the printed sides are facing out and the edges align. Once the pieces are in place, gently press them together so the adhesive holds. Repeat the process for all your cupcakes.

Design Tip: The polka dot cupcake toppers without the greetings on them are perfect candidates for using a scalloped circle cutter to make them look like flowers. Since there's no design in the middle, they would also look great with 3D stickers on them to give them a very custom touch.

8. Now all that's left to do is to insert the toppers into your cupcakes or cake and celebrate -- both the occasion and the fact that you created your own set of cupcake toppers!

More Free Party Images

• Free Birthday Cupcake Toppers
• Free Printable Birthday Party Hats
• Free Party Pennants
• Free Birthday Scrapbook Paper
• Free Printable All Occasion Invitations
• Free Printable Birthday Invitations
• Free Beach Party and Luau Invitations
• Free Printable 50th Birthday Party Invitations
• Free Vintage Birthday Cards
• Free Printable Party Invitations
• Free BBQ and Cookout Invitations
• Free Sports Birthday Party Invitations
• Free Princess Birthday Party Invitations
• Free Quinceanera Invitations and Clip Art
• Free Pirate Birthday Party Invitations
• Free Beach Birthday Party and Luau Invitations

Thanks to Trina Clark of DigiscrapKits.com for the for the ladybug and strawberry illustrations and one of the backgrounds used in these cupcake toppers, to DeliciousScraps.com for the round scalloped background, to Cajoline of Cajoline-Scrap.Blogspot.com for the vintage butterfly topper elements and backgrounds, to StarfireDesigns.Blogspot.com for the cupcake illustration and to KevinandAmanda.com for the "Not His Angel" font.

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I hope you enjoy these printable cupcake toppers!